Monthly Conversation With Mitch Daniels

Purdue officials have taken their fair share of heat for the restructuring of the Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne campus.

Critics have called the changes a fait accompli, have said there was little to no faculty input taken in either West Lafayette or Fort Wayne and even some Purdue Trustees worry IU officials are trying to pull a fast one on a Purdue administration led by fiscally conservative President Mitch Daniels which is constantly concerned with trying to trim budgets.

While he’s not endorsing anyone in this year’s elections, Purdue President Mitch Daniels came very close to aligning himself with Libertarian Gary Johnson at an event on campus earlier this month.

Johnson, like Daniels, wants to reduce the national debt – the very subject Daniels was summoned to chat with Congress about a couple weeks ago – a conversation he says was meant as a rebuke of the House and Senate, both of which are led by fellow Republicans.

As he completed his final meeting as chair of the University Senate, Purdue professor Kirk Alter chided Provost Deba Dutta and administrators who sit in the Senate for acting on their own behalf, but under the guise of representing the rank-and-file in their departments.

On this Monthly Conversation with Mitch Daniels, we ask Purdue’s president if the line has become too blurred between faculty and staff and whether those administrators are wolves in sheep's clothing.

On the campus of a Research One university, there’s a lot of scientific debate.

But recently, Purdue’s president – who’s not a scientist – took a stand against what he calls one of the most alarming pieces of pseudo-science affecting Americans today – genetically modified food.

On this month’s conversation with Mitch Daniels, we ask why he’s so riled up about it and whether, when the rich head of a company that makes GMOs sits on your Board of Trustees, there’s a conflict of interest that should prevent such statements.